BEREC replies to EU significant market power review

BEREC, the body of European regulators, has replied to the European Commission’s consultation on the review of the ‘Commission guidelines on market analysis and the assessment of significant market power under the Community regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services’ (the ‘SMP guidelines’). First, BEREC regrets that the review of the SMP guidelines is conducted in parallel with the review of the communications framework, and not consecutively. “Indeed, the current review of the guidelines relies on the existing framework, meaning that the possible evolution of the framework will not necessarily be taken into account in this guidelines review.” BEREC also says that in line with previous reports as well as ongoing discussion on the new Electronic Communications Code, there is also a need to address competition issues derived from ‘tight oligopolies’. As BEREC says, its response is mainly focused on collective dominance. “The evolution of electronic communication services markets from single SMP to oligopolistic structures makes the issue of identifying joint dominance more urgent. Yet, past experiences showed that national regulators have had problems when trying to identify joint dominance.” Finally, all the issues addressed in BEREC’s response were previously raised in its reports apart from a request of general guidance on addressing convergent markets and especially bundling practices that are becoming more relevant. Read more

Tuesday, 18 July 2017

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